Apple says a problem is preventing some animations from using high refresh rates on the iPhone 13 Pro

Apple’s iPhone 13 lineup was launched on Friday, and the key features of the 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max are their promotional display with variable refresh rates that can increase up to 120 Hz. But as seen by 9to5Mac, some of the app animations in third-party apps are currently only running at 60Hz. This can be frustrating if you expect to see battery-smooth animation on all your apps with the new phone, but when we asked Apple Pal what was happening, the company gave two reasons why it was happening.

One reason is that developers will have to update their apps to announce that they use higher refresh rates. This can be done by adding an entry to the app’s playlist, Apple tells Paul The Verge, and the company says it plans to share documents about the entry you need to add soon. But in some cases, animations created with the company’s core animation technology are also affected by an issue that will be fixed in an upcoming software update, Apple says.

Variable refresh rate screens offer many advantages, including smooth animation and scrolling when you use the device, and battery savings run at a lower refresh rate. We were impressed to see the screens on the 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max in our review and were glad to hear that third party apps could take full advantage of their offer – although some will have to wait after the software update.